Franz Josef - Glacier Walk!
We were on the road for quite some time, stopped at Westport. We were in a little area called Cape Foulwind where we walked up to a lighthouse! Then went to the seal collony which was so cool. There were hundreds of them just lounging around on the rocks, some of the pups were play fighting, waddling to get to the sea to swim. I could have stayed there for hours but we knew we had to get moving. Driving down the West Coast was one of thee most amazing drives ever. The sun was blazing & the colour on the sea was stunning, the little beaches along the coast looked amazing. We stopped off at a little side road parking area& we got some photos of the coast, I tried getting cocky & attempted to get over a fence to get some photos but got my boot caught on the fence! I had no help what so ever from Grant - he just stood there wetting himself at me, got the camera off me & started getting snap shots of me. After an amusing couple of minutes we were back in the car stopping at a couple of motels on the way to find out how much they were to stay for the night. Grant wanted to find a place before it got dark. We made one last stop on the side of the roadwhere Grant watched the sun set & I sulked in the car as he'd wound me up. By the time we got to the next town full of motels it was dark! On our way into town I ran over a wild animal. My 1st wild animal incedent. I cried as I was in shock. I hadn't flinched when it happened. I can remember seeing the lights on the animal but didn't manage to work out what it was. We drove back up the road to see if it was ok & came across a dead possum but it was a gonner!
We got a quote at a little motel from a young chinease lad who dropped the price quite drastically, we told him we'd take it and that we needed to go and get cash out & also pick up dinner. We got a family box - yet again from McDonals & got back to find an older gentleman at the desk. I said I'd just been speaking to the young guy about the room but he said No!? That we couldn't stay there! I didn't debate, i just walked out. When Grant found out he was livid - he stormed into their office & told him he couldn't go back on what he'd offered us & that we had just gone & got supper. The guy wasn't having any of it and still said NO! For the sake of a couple of dollars - he was losing out on the money. We were both so angry, we were back out on the road looking for a place to stay. We stopped at one place where I got talking to the lady about the chinease people. She told us they'd heard tons of stories about them but this story was beyond. She advised us of a couple of places to stay & off we were again - hunting down a cheap place. I ended up driving on the wrong side of the road, up & down we drove, our grub getting cold & then we drove into a campsite but their officehad just closed. It was just our luck. We decided to drive a little further down the road but didn't have any luck with finding anything so went back to the campsite & left a note to say we'd pay in the morning. We parked up & turned our car seats into a bed then strolled over to the kitchen area to chill & to warm up our grub. It was a cold night & a restless one too. In the morning Grant went to pay, where the lady was so lovely & chuffed at how honest we were. We took a walk down onto the beach, it was packed with driftwood, we could have stayed there picking out peices all day.
We stopped at a local supermarket to get breaky, when Grant got out of the car he grabbed the camera bag but the lense bag wasnt zipped up & the lense flew out & smashed into the floor! We were lucky as only the cap on the lense had broke. After breaky we headed for Franz Josef Glacier. When we arrived we were looking through a booklet of places to stay & stopped at a couple of motels to find out the cost for a nights stay. We needed the internet to be able to skype my dad on his birthday. We finally booked ourselves into a motel with internet then got ourselves down to the glacier booking office where we booked our glacier walk for the next day, a present from my parents for my birthday. We called my dad that night & I was so chuffed to find out that on the morning of his birthday he was walking down the stairs as the postman was posting his parcel through the letterbox. HOW AWESOME IS THAT! For dinner we had a packet of noodles & rice that we used our microwave in our litte miniture kitchen & we were sorted.
When we woke up the next morning we decided to stay another night! It was such a nice feeling not to have to wake up in the morning and pack & move to another motel. It was the best & ... also MY BIRTHDAY!!! When it was finally time to get up we both got ready & piled on the layers of clothing then made our packed lunches & headed on down to the office where everyone gathered to get their hired gear for the glacier walk. We were all given proper boots, over trousers, a jacket, a hat & gloves & were given a bumbag with spikes for out boots. Everyone piled onto the bus & 10 minutes later we were at the entrance to the glacier. We walked a fair bit in the rain through the forest then we reached the glacier valley where we were all put into groups. The guide explained that everything looked closer than it actually was & that to get to the glacier would take a while to get to & after looking extremley careful at the glaciers base I could see how far it really was. It was insance of how small the group infront of us were as we could see them just reaching up to the base. It was a little further again after walking to the base - we had to walk up a massive moutain of rocks. It was a zig zagged path & hard work. We were all out of breath & then our guide Phil stopped us to show us how to put our spikes on - which was a relief. The noise was horrible when everyone walked across the rocks with the spikes on. It was like nails being scratched across a chalk board. When we got to the ice I can remember thinking "my 1st steps onto an actual glacier!" It was such an unral feeling. The ice was so blue it was mind boggling. We walked a little & then came to this tunnel walkway! I pointed & was baffled - I asked "are we really walking into that tunnel?" that's all I had running through my head was my cousin Becky getting stuck in a glacier tunnel when she & alex were in New Zealand, and was rather petrified. He said it's not as bad as it looks so we walked - still through the pouring rain. It was a right nusence getting the camera out to get photos with it raining. It took me ages to try & get it out of the bag whilst being squished in the tunnel...but Phil reasured me to take my time & that there was no rush - that's what we were there for...to get photos to remember the experience by. Out came the camera & we didn't stop at that. We saw a couple of holes that had water in & as you looked into it you could tell it was real deap. I asked Phil what he knew about the deepest hole - he said he'd show us on the way back down! We made a couple of stops to get photos before getting to our final point. When we reached the furthest point Phil told us we could all get photos posing with his axe with we all has some fun with. We ate a couple of our peanut butter and jam sandwiches, took in the views from where we were standing and we then made our way back down. Half way down Phil stopped us all & told us to listen as he threw a chunk of ice down a hole that was roughly 100 meters deep. We waited for it to hit the bottom - it took about 10 seconds & that's when it smashed into peices. He done it a couple of times - we all found it fascinating. On the way down the rain stopped & some of the clouds dissapeared & the top of the glacier became more clear - which is so typical. There was fresh snow on top of the mountains & waterfalls, it was perfect! We took our spikes off & walked back to the bus, it felt so good to sit down.
When we got back to the office we gave all the hired clothing back & got in line for a hot chocolate but it ran out which was gutting! We stopped in the market to get our dinner & then went to the glacier hot pools. We paid for this extra package to warm up and relax after our trek on the glacier - thought it was a nice treat. It felt so good to relax & the heat was just the right temperature. We tried out all 3 pools, it was the best, outside surrounded by trees & bushes - it was a lush ending to our trip to Franz Josef. We got back to the motel & skyped my mum & dad where they sung happy birthday, mum opened my birthday gift from anty carol. Grant was back at the room preparing us grub & my birthday muffin cake - which when blowing out the candles - I had to lean out of the window to blow them out incase the fire alarm went off from the smoke, it was funny! I had a such a fab birthday!